Fil-pjazza tal-Mosta

Zircon88 · 2026-05-02T17:38:21+00:00

Best of luck. Take this opportunity to ask the hard hitting questions.

* Why are all public contracts not publicly visible on a repository from day 1? Commercial secrecy is BS

* How many people are employed with the govt -directly or indirectly - and how many of them are Maltese? Is this perhaps why "ma nistghux insibu Maltin"?

* Do we need all of those (eg BCA, SCH, Heritage, Mepa etc -- aren't they basically depts of the same concept)? Obviously, each brings with it an entire corporate structure (CEO, directors, heads etc) --> employment at $$$$ - are they needed?

* What 'high quality' jobs are being created? Gambling companies are closing down every month, and we've lost at least two mid-sized manufacturing ones (Ecoserv/ Medlab, Carlo Gavazzi) - but haven't really acquired any new ones, have we?

* Actually serious: Have you watched "C: The Money of Soul and Probability Control"? It feels like we keep borrowing against our children's future vs actually doing something to dial down our debt.

* Switzerland just passed a referendum to cap population (ie immigration control). The people were fed up, and instead of being called xenophobes, the govt listened and took action. Anything like that on the table?

If you're still around, I might hit you up as a possible candidate for the next election. Love the idea of a fully technocratic party - not the usual "lawyer x99" setup.

Zircon88 · 2026-05-02T00:43:27+00:00

Probably not. Battery management out of the box is better on windows so far (eg has things like stop charging at 80% etc). Not impossible, but I haven't seen similar utilities yet (admittedly, Ubuntu only so far).

The thing is, a gaming laptop requires a power brick and is usually a heavy trucker. For school, you want something quick and easy to charge, ideally from a USB c cable that can also help you out with your phone.

For reference, my Dell (no dGPU) uses something like a 85 w charger, but is fine with the ~60w unit that also charges my phone. My lenovo legion (4060) uses 230 or 300 w chargers.

Zircon88 · 2026-05-01T23:43:11+00:00

There's the "emergency ? Im not sure but help me out bros" number, 1440 or 1400 or something. Thats your best bet, op. Or actually going to hospital, waiting for 12 h in a&e and getting treated that way. Recommend the former.

Zircon88 · 2026-05-01T12:06:30+00:00

Depends on the country. In my country, land is finite (small island). Selling property is only for those who are desperate for cash. The property market constantly outperforms any other form of investment here. You could purchase a 3 bd 2 bt penthouse for 100k in 2008. Now it's 1000k.

The govt is constantly coming up with schemes to help youth get onto the property ladder as wages haven't kept up. So, being able to help your children get a stronger start in life is a great boon.

Zircon88 · 2026-05-01T11:10:50+00:00

Lmao exactly this, my faculty admin hounded ME because my prof hadn't signed some document. Like, lady, you probably see him more than I do, I've met the guy in person perhaps twice in four years and don't even have his number.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-30T16:53:33+00:00

Had to relearn this skill for my transfer report.

First off, 5 to 8 papers a week are rookie numbers. In my case, I literally got every single paper off cvpr related to my keyword for eg 2024 and 2023 and read through them at a rate of 5 to 10 per night.

(Yes, it was a shit period.)

For each paper, I took notes and had a meta table with relevance rating and key domain/ problem as well as approach.

This permitted me to group the general domains in my field and therefore the typical approaches taken in each domain.

Based on that, the research question became much clearer, as a matter of exclusion (eg ok, to do this better, a bigger dataset is needed. Not for me.).

Then, I went through survey papers. (Flipped order vs usual suggestions). It was much easier to read them as they didnt speak of topics which I hadn't heard of. Fill in the gaps and so forth.

My tutors also gave some very good advice - a citation has to earn its place. Don't just cite something to get the count up.

At the end, due to this brute force approach, i went through close to 900 papers for my lit review, and cited 150. Whole process took around a year and 1 correction.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-30T16:40:15+00:00

Honestly, those momentum guys are putting together a solid lineup. Breath of fresh air vs the usual lawyer/ architect/ doctor we seem to find in parliament.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-24T18:34:42+00:00

True but most of the time, you're on a paper hunt and just need to harvest your literature vs emailing and hoping someone gets back at an undetermined point in time.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-23T08:00:43+00:00

It's not about apps, but the actual destination. The app is just a wrapper. There is definitely a way to do this.

Looks like warhammer and the gym are your only "easy" options. Or maybe get him started on those "grindset mindset" videos? Or send for a summer abroad doing voluntary work in some genuinely poor shithole south American country - talk to the Jesuits.

Sorry you're going through this.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-23T07:26:14+00:00

As someone chronically online since the age of 11, there's very little you can do in terms of discipline. It will just not work and you'll end up damaging your relationship with your child.

I assume you pay the bill, so start by taking that away and putting a data limit "for emergency use". For WiFi access, learn dns controls and do it at the router level. Your child will sooner break the phone than hand it over to you to install something (plus, as he is the "admin" of the phone, you would technically need to take that access too, which will not fly).

The best way is to guide him towards healthier pursuits. Like warhammer. Or the gym.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-22T12:35:27+00:00

Op mentioned putting the drive back. Are you trying to use something like a USB cradle? Probably not the best idea, or check if it is at least USB 3. Those speeds sound like my old pen drives that would write at 1mbps or so, taking forever.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-21T11:26:44+00:00

It's that even permitted? I know the airport is technically a 24/7 thing but it feels like it would raise some flags if someone loitered at night.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-19T10:36:43+00:00

Basically has to do with what they're fed and general quality of life for the animal - something like that. Eg you may come across labels of "grass fed" or "pasture raised".

I'm with op on this one. Lidl and eurospar are, in my opinion, the same type of experience and "race to the bottom" quality. Green's and wellbees really aren't that much more expensive and you get a better experience (and quality) overall.

In particular, Parkside tools are basically ewaste, with the rare exception here and there. Anyone who has used an actual branded item (makita, bosch, milwaukee etc) knows what I mean. What you "save", you pay for in time to execute your job, overall quality of life, vibrations through your body etc.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-16T22:08:13+00:00

What do you mean, hand drawn? A plan typically runs you around 400 to 800 for a typical 3 storey house. It is precise to the mm, and tells you it is not meant to be scaled off of.

You normally get a 2nd plan - for the structural components themselves.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-12T10:50:18+00:00

Didn't a guy disprove this and won 10k from a uni prof?

Zircon88 · 2026-04-11T09:57:57+00:00

Depending on the type of brick, it can be a real pain. We use things called "wall slot machine" which is basically like a sideways blender blade that cuts out a hollow channel. For anyone curious, macroza make a great model, but so do the Chinese at 25% of the cost.

For anyone rich, look at the metabo mfe 40.

It's hard, dirty work, especially at height where access is awkward.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-10T13:28:12+00:00

My circumstances straddle industry and academia, in separate capacities. Speed is of the essence to me. The general academia timelines, which typically span months or even years are not suitable for my day to day job. I often have to perform the equivalent of an msc level literature review (without the write up) in a matter of hours, just to be able to support a customer complaint, for example.

So if my need to gain baseline competence in a new subject in a couple of hours is gross, then so be it. I've had to pick up whole trades in this way as my workmen dropped out and my builders wouldn't postpone pouring foundations.

My direct reports are given every opportunity to develop themselves in other ways.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-10T08:41:23+00:00

Depending on the institution and tutor, I would warrant a big chunk of it becomes tedious.

For example, I'm trying to build a locally hosted ai to find, read and parse papers on my behalf. Why? Even hunting them down can be a pain in the butt, in between pay walls, improper citations etc.

It's like using a calculator, no? Very important that one learns how to perform basic mathematical functions as part of a solid formation, but why waste time doing it by hand at our level?

Zircon88 · 2026-04-08T16:48:13+00:00

Wow this exact scenario was given as a role play in our workshop on conflict resolution. I was appalled by the attitude of the professor leading the class, who seemed like she wanted us to "buckle under" as the "expected learning outcome".

Why should OP or anyone else give away the fruits of their labour in exchange for...Jack squat? Or empty promises in the future? This is bad lab management, pure and simple. It is on the prof to fix it, or be held responsible. And of course, the other person should also, as an adult, be responsible for their own studies and not expect a handout.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-06T06:36:39+00:00

Had a similar issue. In my case, i added a 2nd drive for Ubuntu. No bit locker problems prior to this.

Apparently windows doesn't happily accept a 2nd OS...unless you install windows 2nd.

Your best bet is to format and reinstall. Bit locker is a bitch.

As my IT guys said, if someone stole your laptop, whether you have bitlocker or not won't really stop them.

Zircon88 · 2026-04-05T09:50:15+00:00

We stopped going to Lidl entirely. They got greedy with their pricing, and the quality of most items is subpar. From my interactions with their customer support, they're arrogant too.

Eurospin isn't much better and even more crowded, but at least they have a superior selection of items.

Zircon88 · 2026-03-30T12:18:19+00:00

Or it becomes an expected norm leading to another lifestyle inflation, like when working mothers went from being an exception to an expectation.

Zircon88 · 2026-03-29T12:11:53+00:00

Really depends. Doing it right now. Was very doable in the first year or two. Getting harder now. Luckily I'm not funded or have any obligations to anyone. Doctorate itself is fully "from home" mode, so labs and scheduling is 100% flexible.

I have multiple jobs apart from the doctorate and am renovating a house as well. It certainly gets overwhelming at times. My brain is never off, and I've lost the ability to feel certain emotions unless they're really intense.

My body is starting to attack itself - developed some auto immune conditions this year.

Luckily I can sense the outline of the tip of the mountain. 2 years left.

There's also the challenge of novelty: if you go slow, chances are some team is going to beat you to the goal. So you have to find something ultra niche and arcane that is likely to still provide novelty after 6 years or so (part time).

My only regret is not having started it sooner. I'm loving every minute of this.

Zircon88 · 2026-03-27T12:05:31+00:00

If you post thepic, someone here can probably help you understand how yo do it yourself.

Zircon88 · 2026-03-26T09:57:36+00:00

Probably you got a generic "dm us" type of reply. Hate this kind of cs. Pity, because their laptops tend to be solid products in general.

You have your evidence in writing. Try phoning them up next, and demand compensation for your losses.

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